972 July 1, 2023 Majestic Denali

I was walking near the campground in Trapper Creek and I had a clear view of the mountains.  I had a feeling that today was going to be a great day to see Denali.

A crazy store stuffed with all kinds of odds and ends.  There are actually lots of places that look like this here in Alaska…even some houses!  You never know when you might need a piece of something!

We drove north on Parks Highway and it wasn’t long before we could see it!

We saw a mama moose and her two calves grazing in the roadside ditch.  We saw another solitary moose in a broad meadow.

We planned to drive to Denali South Viewpoint where we knew we could also camp.  We got out and took pictures and walked the short trail to the top and took more pictures.  Denali was in full glory today.  The weather was perfect!

We decided to try other Denali State Campgrounds.  This viewpoint was really busy with busses and lots of other traffic.  It was early in the day and so we moved on.  This was the best decision.

Just about a mile down the road, there was the K’esugi Ken Campground.  This is a relatively new park.  The entrance road went uphill.  We could see glimpses of the mountains as we traveled.  There were no available campsites and we were disappointed.  We had seen some interesting trails.  We parked at the Interpretive Center.  I got out to pay the day use fee and saw that if you talked to the ranger, there was a place for overflow RV camping. 

We are parked in the day use area and can now stay here overnight.  We rested for a short time and then we went to see the sights and walk the trails.

This is a beautiful park and the scenic views were incredible.  There was no one else out hiking with us and so we could just stop and sit on rocks and in the silence, we could appreciate the grandeur. 

This was the best place to see the terminus of the Ruth Glacier.  It actually sits in the deepest gorge in the world. 

Looking at my pictures, I see that most of them are of THE MOUNTAIN.  Only about 30% of people who come here actually get to see Denali…how lucky are we?

We went to the ranger talk this evening.  The tile was “The Fiercest Predator.”  Ranger Cindy talked about the life cycle of the mosquito.  Nine months ago, last year’s mosquitoes laid their last raft of eggs in the water.  The eggs lay frozen over the winter season.  About 8 weeks ago, the eggs began to hatch.  The larvae lived in ponds and lakes and in the past week, are now fully grown and ready to begin the cycle again.  We are in peak mosquito season.  They are annoying to be sure but there are not near as many as in the Outer Banks or in Assateague.  The ranger is a retired science teacher.  She had lots of research to share.  Her message though was simple.  Mosquitoes have a purpose in this place.  They are accidental pollinators and they are a primary food source for many species of bats and birds.  Mosquito larvae also leave a pond cleaner and less polluted.

The ranger told us that there is a mama moose in the park. Female moose like to be near people and dogs when they give birth. This gives them some protection from large predators like bears and wolves. This mama had two calves in May. Two weeks ago, during the night, a grizzly took one of the calves. Another reminder about where we are. This is sad but it is also the circle of life. Only 10% of moose babies make it to the following autumn.

The wood frog is the only amphibian that lives here.  There are no snakes or reptiles at all.

After the program we took another walk on the Moose Flats Trail.  Denali looked completely different in the evening light.  It was 8pm and there are still 4 hours until sunset at 12:14am.  I wonder what it might look like then!

971 June 30, 2023 Petersville Road

I had a great place to walk this morning.  I did laps in the town of Talkeetna.  The first time I passed, I stopped at the riverfront to see if Denali was visible today. Just clouds.

The second time I passed, there was a small snow covered peak.  I stood and watched as the outline of the mountain became defined.  I’m not completely certain that I saw Denali or if I saw one of the attached mountains but it was very cool!

Today we moved again, traveling only a short distance to Trapper Creek.  We parked the RV, packed the cooler and set out to explore Petersville Road.  This was an old mining road.  Now, lots of people come here to enjoy riding ATV’s.

We saw a porcupine. 

It was such a pretty ride.  The road was hardpacked gravel for a while and then became pockmarked with potholes.  It was muddy and bumpy and fun!

The old abandoned mining town.

More pretty pictures.

Waterfalls everywhere.

A water crossing.

There are lots of active mining claims here and we saw a couple of guys panning for gold.

Lots of moose poop!

We drove about 36 miles in 3.5 hours.  We stopped only when the creek was too deep to cross.

We had a picnic of apples and peanut butter and veggies and hummus and then we had the long trek back. 

This road is the back or south entry to Denali National Park. Climbers and hikers often use this this as an access point. On a clear day it might have been possible to see Denali and a few glaciers as well. We were the blue dot. Another road less traveled…and I’m glad we found it!

970 June 29, 2023 Talkeetna

It was cloudy but not raining when I got up.  I was able to walk this morning without getting wet.  These tiny and dainty flowers are ground ivy.

This new house sat on property adjacent to the campground.  I love it!

Coffee at Lead Dog Espresso on our way out.

We drove just 40 miles today to the town of Talkeetna.

We had no reservation but got the last campsite at Talkeetna Camper Park.

We walked the half mile to town, taking our umbrellas; which was a good thing!

There were lots of people walking around.  It looks like cruise ships bring busloads here to enjoy the town.  This is a quirky little place.  There are lots of gift shops with all things Alaska.  Lots of art and craft items and lots of Native American things as well.  It was fun to browse.

Lots of shops had furs for sale. This was a caribou hide.

This Jeep was so souped up that it didn’t have many original Jeep parts on it!

We walked down to the confluence of the Talkeetna, Susitna and Chulitna Rivers.  On a clear day, you can see Mount Foraker, Mount Hunter, and Mount Denali.  Today was overcast and there were no mountains to see!

Cow parsnip can cause a skin irritation if you touch it!

We walked in a restaurant and we each had a midday beverage.

By the time we got back to the RV, it was naptime.

This evening, we went back into town.  We ate smoked salmon cheese crunch at Talkeetna Tako. 

We went to the Denali Brewpub and I had a berry cider and Tim had stout with an appetizer of smoked salmon spread. 

We sat at the bar and there we met a wonderful couple, Suzie and Steve from California.  Their children bought them plane tickets to Alaska for their birthday gifts.  They have rented a tiny house on a lake near here.  They had wonderful energy and we enjoyed chatting and sharing our stories.  They also love travel and being grandparents.  Sometimes, you meet people and you click!  Travel blessings to you both as you finish this adventure and plan for the next!

WE walked back to the water and we could see a little bit of mountain poking through…maybe tomorrow before we leave the mountains will appear!

My grandmother grew columbine in her beautiful gardens.

969 June 28, 2023 Hatcher Pass

There was soaking rain all night and this morning it was rainy and raw.

We were ready for the service technician to take the RV before 8am.

While Cummins was taking good care of the RV, we went to the laundromat and the post office and then to McDonalds to use WIFI for the blog.  They also let us fill our fresh water.

At 1pm, the RV was ready; oil change, transmission oil and filter changed, new air filter, and new fuel filters.  Everything good!

We drove through traffic and north out of town to Willow.

We stayed in the Hatcher Pass RV Park.

After resting, we packed dinner and went to explore.  It was raining when we left.

We took Hatcher Pass Road.  As we climbed in elevation, we were driving among the clouds.  Ordinarily, this is a spectacular ride in alpine country with mountain views.  Today, the mountains were shrouded in dense clouds and we couldn’t see much. 

When the visibility turned to zero, we turned around and so did not make it to the summit.

We found an old abandoned bus.  Tim rigged a tarp so that I could cook our eggs.  We ate our meal in the bus as it was the only dry place to be.

A moose and her calf were in a roadside pond.  They were about 150 yards away.  We watched for several minutes.  Mama moose gently nudged the little one and they turned and walked away.

A short distance later, Tim spotted a beaver on the bank.  He posed for a picture and then slipped away flashing his paddle tail as he went.

We stopped by Willow Creek and made some hot tea and Tim made a small fire. 

We were damp and muddy but we had a fun outing!

968 June 27, 2023 Off To Anchorage

Claudia and I took a walk to Copper Center.  It was so nice to have a walking partner.  The time passed quickly and before I knew it, we were back at the campground. 

The competition across the river.

We all had our morning coffee out by the river as a bald eagle flew overhead.

We said our goodbyes and we were once again on our way. 

We have a transmission oil filter light on and the RV is due for an oil change.  The Cummins Dealer in Anchorage was able to get us in tomorrow.  Today was all about the drive from Copper Center to Anchorage.

We passed the Tazlina Glacier.

We stopped at Buffalo Lake.

We stopped again at Eureka Summit at 3,322 feet.  The vistas are outstanding.

The Chugach Mountains and the Nelchina Glacier…breathtaking!

The highway ran alongside the Matanuska River.  We will come back here when the kids visit and explore some more.

We stopped for fuel in Palmer where diesel was $3.69 per gallon…woohoo!  Then, we shopped at Walmart in Wasilla for stuff we haven’t been able to get anywhere else.  We arrived at Camp Cummins in late afternoon. 

We have a list of things to accomplish tomorrow while the RV is being serviced.  Not really sure yet where we are headed next!

967 June 26, 2023 Salmon Grove Fish Camp

In Tok there was a great paved walking path.  My walk was quickly accomplished as I talked with mom and my sister.

Our ride was much less harrowing than yesterday.  Driving still required careful attention.  There were lots of recent repairs to the road surface and crews were working.

In the ponds and lakes, we continued to see swans.  We saw families with fuzzy cygnets paddling across the water.  At this lake we saw a nesting swan on the far shore.

We were driving along when a large moose quite suddenly emerged from the brush.  He had his front two hooves on the shoulder when he halted abruptly.  Thank goodness he stopped because we wouldn’t have been able to.  In his side mirror, Tim saw the moose cross the road behind us.

Another pretty ride.

This extremely snowy peak is Mount Sanford and is part of the Wrangell Saint Elias Range.  This mountain is 16,237 feet tall and is one of Alaska’s tallest.   We were lucky to see it.  As we progressed on our ride, the view was obscured by thick clouds.

We arrived at Salmon Grove Campground on the Klutina River at about noon.  We were so happy to see Lee and Claudia and to spend the afternoon and evening visiting and chatting. 

The Klutina River was raging and we watched logs rush downstream in the swift moving current.  The river is much higher than usual because of rain and snowmelt.  We watched trees on the opposite bank lean and fall into the water.  The bank on the other side was being carved out and undermined as the day wore on. 

Sockeye fishing has not been so good this year but this fisherman did have a decent day.

The gulls were screaming and fighting over the scraps.

Fish bonkers or whackers…for you know…

We walked through Copper Center which really is not much of a town.  Tim enjoyed looking at the old trucks.

Later, we sat by the fire with the neighbors.  This is an intimate campground.  Lots of the folks have been coming here for years to fish for salmon.  There is a nice sense of community.  You can hear the people laughing and joking and teasing one another.  They share a lot; meals and camaraderie and of course competition for fish. 

Someone gifted Lee and Claudia with a beautiful freshly caught sockeye salmon and they grilled that for our meal.  We enjoyed time with Mike and Jan; also, from Arizona and good friends to Lee and Claudia.  It was such a pleasant evening and over too quickly!

966 June 25, 2023 Broken Road To Tok

We had a quiet night. Thirty minutes after awakening, we were on the road. We knew that we had a long day. We wanted very much to join Lee and Claudia in Copper Center this evening.

The drive started well.

We knew that after Kluane Lake, the road deteriorates. This is because the roadbed is built on swampy ground and permafrost. The overwinter freezing and thawing wreaks havoc on the pavement with mighty frost heaves causing unpredictable bumps and dips. It is like an undulating rollercoaster ride…but it is NOT fun. Many damaged sections were marked by signs and flags and cones and then suddenly, not so much. Maybe the Yukon government ran out of orange flags! Then there were miles of dusty, loose gravel throwing rocks up onto the tow vehicle. Pick your poison! Either way it was a very slow go. We had ambitious plans to get all the way to Salmon Grove tonight. It was 390 miles; which is a lot for us on any day.

We were not going to complain. We had been warned. There is no other way to go. Thank goodness for air ride suspension!

We would get a decent stretch of pavement and then back to the hippie dippy stuff again.

The White River.

A wrecked car. This road is no joke.

We saw a few swans in ponds and lakes by the road. It was kind of hard to appreciate our beautiful surroundings because lots of energy was devoted to being alert to the driving conditions.

We took a break before the US Alaska border. When we continued our drive, it was rough to Beaver Creek. It got a little better with bumpy patches further apart. When we got into Alaska we had gravel and then some good road and then 38 miles of road construction. We had to wait for pilot vehicles to come and lead us through.

In early afternoon, we knew we were not going to last another 4 hours on crappy roads. We decided to quit at Tok. Our sincere apologies to Lee and Claudia for missing dinner tonight; we really were trying. We know that nobody understands better. This is their seventh or eighth trip to Alaska from Tucson.

We took advantage of the campground WIFI to get the blog caught up. We will travel on to Copper Center tomorrow!

965 June 24, 2023 Skagway To Whitehorse To Destruction Bay

It was cloudy this morning in Skagway as I took my morning walk.  I took the pedestrian bridge over the river and into the woods. 

Overnight our Jeep was ducked!

It was deserted so I turned back and continued my walk through town.  When I got back to the campground, Tim was already warming the engine and pulling in slides.

We drove from sea level up to 3,292 feet; up into the clouds.

We went back across the Canadian Border, through a small portion of BC and back into Yukon.

We stopped for coffee at Carcross.  Soon after, we saw this mama bear and her cub.  Can you see the little ears sticking up behind her?

In Whitehorse we filled with fuel and then shopped at Walmart and for groceries.

We rested outside of Whitehorse and then drove on but not before installing our windshield protection.

The road was a little rougher in small sections.  Areas of concern are marked with orange signs and flags and cones.  Tim was also on the lookout for any change in the pavement color; another indication that there might be bumps.

We had the impressive peaks of the Kluane Range of the St. Elias Mountains for our scenery this evening. 

We made a right at Haines Junction to continue our journey on the Alaska Highway. 

The road was narrower with no shoulder.  Bright fuchsia sweetvetch grew along the edge.

We ate our dinner at a turnout.

We approached Kluane Lake and the dust was blowing across the road. 

There were warning signs for crosswinds, sheep in the road (though there were none), and falling rocks.

Kluane Lake.

It was 7pm and we were tired.  We found a home for the night in a scenic overlook.  Pink flowers, the aqua lake, snow covered mountains, tall green pines and blue sky made lovely pictures!

964 June 23, 2023 Let’s Go To Juneau!

Today we got up early and drove the Jeep to the small boat harbor.  We had booked a cruise on the Fjord Express to Juneau. 

We had wanted to see the Inside Passage.  We looked into taking the ferry with the RV from Washington but it was about $15,000.00 and we decided that there were better ways to spend that money.  This daytrip allowed us to see a portion of areas only accessible by boat or plane.  Lots of people would like to see a highway constructed from Skagway to Juneau.  There are some good reasons to do this and lots of good reasons not to.  One of the main deterrents is the 22 avalanche areas that would intersect with the proposed roadway.  It would be the most extensive road construction project in Alaska history.

It was a cloudy morning but the sea was a smooth as glass.  The water here is 1,800 feet deep; as deep as the mountains on either side are high.

We passed a waterfall that was glacial ice just 2 or 3 hours earlier.  The water tumbled though the rocky crevice pure and clean. 

Just over the mountains to the east is the largest glacier field in the world.  On the west, is the largest contiguous piece of unmolested land in the world.

We began to see bald eagles perched in trees and on granite outcroppings.

We arrived in the fishing community of Haines.  Although it is only 14 miles from Skagway by water, it is 352 miles by car.  More passengers boarded here and once again we were on our way.

The shore appeared to be sandy but it is actually granite ground by natural forces.  This silt is carried down to the waterway where deposits have altered the depth of the water to 50 feet.  Cruise ships need 35 feet to pass.  Eventually, changes might be necessary to allow large vessels to travel here.

We passed a red navigational marker.  This is a reminder to ship captains that there is a large mountain beneath the surface of the water.

Rainbow Glacier.

There is still snow on the mountains.  This is unusual at this time of year but it has been colder and rainier this spring.

We stopped at the sea lion rookery to watch.

We saw our first humpback whale.  Spout, hump. and fluke! When you see the tail, you know that they are going for a deep dive and will be down for a while.

Eldred Rock Lighthouse; no longer a manned light house; but now automated and functioning.  Harbor seals were swimming off the shore here.

Another glacier in the saddle between two mountains.

Bits of sunlight catching the snowy peaks.

Most of the rivers here are spawning sites for salmon; chums or the lowest level poorest tasting of the 5 varieties, sockeye with the best flavor, kings that are also delicious, silvers and pinks.

We saw stellar sea lions lolling on this buoy and an eagle perched on top.

This is the Herbert Glacier.  The center appears to have a road passing through.  This is called the medial moraine.

As we got closer to Juneau, we saw more humpback whales.  These whales are coming from Hawaii and have journeyed for about 37 days to get here.  New moms are traveling with their calves.  We saw a couple of pairs.

The boat docked in the harbor at Auk Bay.  The water by the capitol is non-navigable from this direction.  We took a bus into the city center.  The sky began to turn blue and the sun came out.  This was an exceptionally beautiful day.  Juneau is a rainforest.  It rains here 240 days a year.  We were lucky to have such a gorgeous weather.

We traveled through the Mendenhall Valley and past the Mendenhall Glacier.  This is the most accessible glacier in Alaska. 

We disembarked the bus and had 4 hours of free time.  There were 5 humongous cruise ships in port.

Looking around this city, it is hard to imagine how EVERYTHING here had to be ferried or flown in.  All the busses and machinery and construction materials and food and other goods.  It was amazing how many cars there were for a place that only has some city streets and one 39-mile road out to the north.

We walked to The Hangar Restaurant and enjoyed a nice meal.  Tim had halibut fish tacos and I had a hearty chowder with huge pieces of whitefish and salmon. 

We watched seaplanes gliding across the water and lifting off.

We walked to the fishing dock and watched guys throwing Dungeness crabs into huge bins of ice.

Parasailing.

The tram to the top.

We walked to Overstreet Park and admired the 30-foot, life-sized, bronze sculpture of a humpback whale.

We had taken off our sweatshirts and we rested in the shade.  It was 75 degrees and sunny.

We walked back into town and mingled with the throng of cruise ship passengers.  Many had shopping bags and armloads of stuff.  We bought postcards and waited for the bus.  We met several interesting people today.  There was a woman was maybe in her sixties who lives out of her Nissan.  She has all of her earthly belongings and toys in her car.  She travels everywhere on her own.  She rents VRBOs and finds other interesting places to stay.  We also met a couple from Texas who has been fulltime in their RV for 5 years.  They had visited a lot of the same parks and places we have and it was nice to share experiences and recommendations for future travel.

We had a 4-hour boat ride back to Skagway.  The mountains looked completely different with the sun shining on them.

We saw more whales.

There were also a bunch of dahl porpoises in the water.

We stopped again at the sea lion rookery.  The babies and moms and younger guys were all in the water.  Only the bull sea lions were on the rocks.  It was too hot in the sunshine for them to be out.

We arrived back in Skagway at 8:15. The last cruise ship was pulling out of port.  The town was empty and most of the businesses were shuttered for the night.

We had a spectacular day.  Lots of mountains and glaciers and eagles and whales.  Calm seas all the way and brilliant skies.  We are so glad that we made this trip!

963 June 22, 2023 Dyea and West Creek Road

We spent the morning doing our exercise and other mundane stuff.  Tim took a bike ride in town.

After lunch, we took the Jeep to Dyea. 

Lots of pretty views along the way.

This is a National Historic Site; an old mining ghost town.  We drove out onto the flats.

The wild irises are blooming in great purple swaths.

We took the bridge over West Creek and then the road was dirt and gravel and followed the path of the water.  We could hear rushing falls and there were several places where the water gushed out of the side of the mountain.

We stopped at the overlook and could see the town and two cruise ships in the harbor today.

This evening, we took our dinner to the park near the Skagway River.

We watched a small plane take off toward the mountains.